 |
| "Tuning Life Platinum Club" |
We walked t' hell and back tonight, as my Papa would have said. We were looking for some local grub, and went about a mile radius. Turns out we are in the garment district and the many fancy-looking malls all around us are used by garment wholesalers. The weird thing is, at 6pm at night the shops are all empty. I mean not just of their people. It looks like an apocalypse has swept through and it's been looted already. Sometimes in the barren shops there are one or two people working on huge plastic bagged bundles of... jeans? shmancy underthings? ringer tees? You can't ever really tell what they are by the time they're bundled. These malls have no food, except one where we saw signs pointing through half-lit hallways and over stopped escalators toward a McD's. If you thought the food in American McDs was bad (we are not fans), apparently the Chinese ones have been recently cited for knowingly using tainted chicken. Our guides even specifically advised against going to them.
So on we walked. You should know we crossed the street twice. Yes, we are made of courage. In one place there was a friendly crossing light and crowds ready to walk from both sides. I tried to get a video for you, but as soon as we started into the street we had to run like refugees from the safety of the sidewalk. The video was a comical dizzying mishmash of feet on a dirty street. Everyone scurries across as there are no guarantees that a pedestrian will EVER have the right of way here. The second time we crossed it was a small... well, four lanes are small here anyway... one-way street. We waited for it to look completely clear and then ran as fast as we could with the stroller. A Chinese couple who went at the same time weren't casual about it either, running just as quickly as we did.
Having survived crappy uneven-street crazed-traffic frogger, I was glad to see the concrete stair flyover on our last big crossing. It's hot and uncomfortable climbing them with her stroller, but much less likely that we'll have a bad day. They are mostly crumbling and rusted, but even with communist building standards your odds are still going to better than down on the street.
Finally we gave up, trekked back to our hotel and ate in the Chinese place there. I have to say, it was amazing. Our beautiful girl ate most of my abalone (abalone!), rice, cabbage, the most delicious scallion pancakes I've ever had, and noodles.
The noodles were in a hot red soup/sauce, and we thought she would love those. Apparently, we have found the ceiling for her spice tolerance. You have to give her some true Wuhan girl props: it's a very high ceiling. I tried a few bites of her daddy's noodles, too, and they left me spluttering and coughing from all the red pepper oil. Much more dignified, all she does is hang her mouth open and finally refuse to eat any more of them. That, my friends, is a big statement right there.
Tomorrow is our US Embassy appointment. We aren't allowed to bring our phones, so sadly there will be no cute or humorous photos. In fact, we have to bring only essential items and only in clear ziploc bags. Let's hope our new citizen (and her mom) is in a compliant and cheerful mood.
So on we walked. You should know we crossed the street twice. Yes, we are made of courage. In one place there was a friendly crossing light and crowds ready to walk from both sides. I tried to get a video for you, but as soon as we started into the street we had to run like refugees from the safety of the sidewalk. The video was a comical dizzying mishmash of feet on a dirty street. Everyone scurries across as there are no guarantees that a pedestrian will EVER have the right of way here. The second time we crossed it was a small... well, four lanes are small here anyway... one-way street. We waited for it to look completely clear and then ran as fast as we could with the stroller. A Chinese couple who went at the same time weren't casual about it either, running just as quickly as we did.
Having survived crappy uneven-street crazed-traffic frogger, I was glad to see the concrete stair flyover on our last big crossing. It's hot and uncomfortable climbing them with her stroller, but much less likely that we'll have a bad day. They are mostly crumbling and rusted, but even with communist building standards your odds are still going to better than down on the street.
 |
| Have you noticed how ordering takes for EVER when you are starving and maybe even tired to the point of yawning? |
The noodles were in a hot red soup/sauce, and we thought she would love those. Apparently, we have found the ceiling for her spice tolerance. You have to give her some true Wuhan girl props: it's a very high ceiling. I tried a few bites of her daddy's noodles, too, and they left me spluttering and coughing from all the red pepper oil. Much more dignified, all she does is hang her mouth open and finally refuse to eat any more of them. That, my friends, is a big statement right there.
Tomorrow is our US Embassy appointment. We aren't allowed to bring our phones, so sadly there will be no cute or humorous photos. In fact, we have to bring only essential items and only in clear ziploc bags. Let's hope our new citizen (and her mom) is in a compliant and cheerful mood.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love comments, don't you?